Storks Drabbles
by DemonWriterX
Summary: Join Junior the Stork and Tulip the human as they struggle to bring babies to their families. JuniorXTulip
1. Chapter 1

"Night time struggle"

Junior moaned painfully as he was woken up again by the sound of crying. He lifted his tired head up and blinked his baggy eyes at the small form writhing in her pod. As he lifted his head, he accidently hit Tulip's chin, which was rested right on top of his own head. He blinked by how tired she was too. Almost like a mirror image of two employees, taking care of a crying baby that they had to deliver in the morning. They both smacked their dry mouths as Tulip, reached gently inside to pick up the raven-haired baby. Junior stared down into the baby's bright blue eyes as he watched Tulip rock her in her arms.

"What time is it?" Tulip muttered, struggling to keep the baby calm to make her fall back asleep.

Junior reached for his phone and glanced at the time, for the third time in a couple of hours. "Like four in the morning…"

"She's so fussy." Tulip groaned softly as she continued to rock the baby. The little girl writhed and screamed in her arms, refusing to fall back asleep. Tulip leaned back against the rock wall and moved the blanket up towards her to keep herself warm. They both decided to sleep in a cave in the middle of the rocky mountains before making their way to Nevada, where the baby's parents lived. Junior rubbed his eyes and stretched his finger-like feathers towards Tulip and the baby.

"Here, give her to me, it's my turn to hold her anyway." He stated softly. Tulip immediately passed the baby to him, glad to have a little break. They always took turns rocking, feeding and changing the babies they deliver together. They never tried to pawn the responsibility off to the other. Junior rocked the baby in his arms and bounced her, hoping to soothe the fussing child. It was a slow pace and they were in for a long day. Junior hummed a little tune to the baby. Since he was a talent for singing. He is usually the one to sing to the babies while Tulip dances. Sometimes they switch but Tulip's singing voice seem to make them cry louder.

The baby's cries began to lessen as she listened to his little song.

Tulip sighed and rested her head on Junior's shoulder. A small smile etched across her face.

"You're such a good dad." She whispered truthfully, closing her eyes for a moment. Junior lifted his head and turned to her. He blinked when he noticed her resting on his shoulder, with her arm wrapped around his shoulder and a warm hand on the baby.

"You think so?" He asked, turning back to the baby, who was struggling to fight against sleep. Tulip nodded and hummed in agreement. He leaned his head against her red hair, his cheek brushing against her frizzy hair. "Well...I think you're a good mom."

She lifted her head and smiled as he could only described as a mixture of a drunk and sleep deprived grin. "Aw, do you really think that about me?" She asked with a slight giggle. He nodded and smiled back at her.

"Yeah, I really do."

She snorted and collapse on his shoulder again. "You're so sweet." she mumbled into his ear. He clutched the sleeping baby close to his chest as his head began to slump down.

"No…" he argued and leaned against her head. "You're so sweet...l-like candy." he opened his mouth and let out a yawn. He suddenly heard her whisper back to him something that he would always remember. It made him smile through the rest of the night.

"I'm glad I'm with you, Junior." His eyes grew heavy and his body became like jelly but before sleep could take him, he swiftly replies.

"I'm glad you're with me too, Tulip." With that, the two rested peacefully until they abruptly woke up an hour later by the cries of the baby.


	2. Chapter 2

Junior is finally Boss of Storks Industries, instead of delivering packages he is delivering newborn babies to their respected families. This was a sudden change to him and the company since they had been delivering packages for the last eighteen years but all that changed when Orphan Tulip (who is not an orphan anymore) came into his life. Which was more like dramatically changed it when they accidentally created a baby.

It had been almost a year since that delivery and Junior still stared at the picture, that held his first baby delivery, to this day. He kept it up on a mural of photos and letters from happy customers. He smiled fondly of the never ending photos when he walked by it every morning.

With a coffee in one wing and a clip board in the other, he strolled into his office while taking a sip

of his de-cafe. All he wanted to do is sit back in his chair and go over the list of babies that need to be delivering.

"Hey Junior!" Yelled an excitable voice making him spit out his coffee in alarm as he saw the red haired young women, known as Tulip, spin around in his chair with her arms and legs up in the air as if riding a roller coaster. "I bet I can go super fast on this thing!"

Junior coughed and hit his chest as he grimaced at Tulip. "What are you doing in my chair? Don't you know that is reserved for the boss, and by that I mean, me." He said as he walked up to her placing a firm wing on the desk. Tulip propped her feet up on the wooden desk and leaned back.

"I don't see your name on it." She teased and smirked when Junior gave her a frown.

"I'll burn my name into the leather next time...now come on, we have a lot of work to do. We have letters piling in by the thousands to feed into the baby-making machine." He said motioning to the extremely complicated machine of knobs and balls through the window of his office.

"Remind me what that thing is made out of?" Tulip asked with an arched brow. Junior brushed the question off.

"Ah who knows? What a twist." He said motioning her to get off his chair, with a frown, Tulip obliges.

"So what baby are we delivering today?" She smiled as she took a seat right on the desk. Junior sipped his coffee calmly.

"Oh no not we, I don't do that anymore."

"What. Why?" She asked as she leaned over. He flinched and moved the clipboard aside from her prying eyes.

"No reason. I'm just boss now and I can let the other storks do it. No big deal."

Tulip snorted and laughed slightly. "Oh I get it! Is it because you bawl like a baby every time you deliver a baby?"

"No!" Junior said defiantly, crossing his arms childishly. Tulip laughed even harder.

"Yes it is! Yes it is!" She sanged. "Awww poor Junior, do you want a hug from Tulip?" She said stretching her arms out to him. Junior blushed slightly and turned his head away.

"Don't you need to invent something?"

"Aww come on, tell Tulip about your feelings." She cooed leaning herself closer to him, he scooted away with his chair.

"Tulip, no! There's nothing to talk about!"

"Aw come on! Come here!"

"N-no, no, remember we have to stay in professional relation-!" He was cut off by Tulip wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her cheek against his. For a moment he froze. Wings on the desk and unable to respond. He heard her let out a sweet giggle.

"There isn't that nice?"

"No. I actually feel super uncomfortable."

"Shh, just accept it." She whispered. "It's okay to feel sad when the babies leave."

He slowly frowned at that thought. He wouldn't admit it out loud but her hug was actually working. "I just miss'em." He admits softly, resting his head against her. "It's not easy letting them go and having them grow up...without you." He sniffed, fighting back the tears. Tulip smiled gently and patted his head.

"Hey, it's okay...but isn't it fun too? Taking that baby and seeing how happy the parents are. Seeing them together? Like it's supposed to be?"

He blinked and chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess that's true…"

"And...if you ever feel sad, well, you got me!" She perked. "And all the hugs you can get, at anytime, I won't mind."

"Even in the bathroom?"

She pulled away from that and Junior immediately shut his beak. "Ew, no! Where did that come from?"

"Sorry! Ruined the moment there…" He cringed.

"Yeah, yeah you did."


	3. Chapter 3

Junior was now done for the day. The lights of Stork Mountain were turned off and all the employees had gone home. Junior rubbed his tired eyes as he checked off the last parts of his list. His desk lamp the only source of light he had in the entire building. With a yawn, he imagined himself already in his perch wrapped in a warm blanket and a soft pillow to rest his head on. Once he double checked his list and made sure that every delivery made it on time he shut off his desk lamp, ready to call it a night. He stretched his wings as he stood up, glancing at the clock he saw that it was passed midnight.

"Woof." He muttered. "Good thing it's the weekend." He smiled to himself as he strolled out of his office into the dark building. As he made his way passed the baby-making machine, he saw a lone light in the distance. He blinked when he realized that it was Tulip's new workshop, and also the place where she calls home since she technically lives on Stork Mountain. He thought of it as strange since she should have been asleep hours ago. He quickly made his way down a set of metal grated staircases. The stairs creaked underneath his feet as he slowly made his way closer to the source of the light. He wondered if Tulip might have accidentally left her light on. When he made it to the bottom he was greeted by the shining bulb hanging just above him in the large room.

The workshop was filled with would be inventions, still unfinished and blueprints scatter across the floor and desks she had. There was a lone twin bed at the end of the room, empty and with the blankets untouched. There was a thick white tape on the floor that outlined what exactly was her bedroom, the lines representing walls. Junior immediately saw her sitting on her chair, inthralled in a book and intensely writing in it.

"Tulip?" He called out, making her suddenly whirl back at him shutting her book in a loud slam.

"Junior!...what are you doing in my room? I told you to knock!" She said pointing to the left. Junior looked down and saw that he had crossed the border. He rolled his eyes and took a step back out of it. Tulip crossed her arms and turned away making him knock on the invisible door but he had to make the sound to get her attention.

"Yes?" She called out with her eyes shut. "Who is it?"

Junior rolled his eyes again as he is always subjected into knocking on her imaginary walls. "It's me." He said dully. "Junior. Can I come in?"

Tulip's eyes snapped open. "Hold on I'm not decent!" She yelled out, even though he saw she was still in her uniform. Tulip waited a couple of seconds before turning back around with a large smile. "Okay! Come in!"

He stepped inside making Tulip gasp in surprise as if she had hardly see him even though she said goodbye a few hours prior. "Junior! Wow! What a surprise, what brings you down here?"

He pointed to the light. "I thought you were already asleep." Her eyes shifted to the book in less than a second. He titled his his head at her and cleared his throat. "Everything okay?"

Tulip shifted in her seat, clutching her knees as she swayed side to side. "Yup! Couldn't be better I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep you know? So I was just writing some ideas down…"

"Oh." He crossed his arms and tapped against them with his wings. "I just think it's a little weird since you're usually a deep sleeper and I have never seen you so...awake."

"Junior." She began letting out a snort. "I'm fine! I just couldn't sleep is all, just too many things going on in my head or something…" She said turning back around on her desk. He saw her look at a picture frame that held her whole family. The one she had meet just almost a year ago. Junior had never seen so much red hair in one family. He actually thought that was rare since having red hair is usually a genetic trait-

"Uh Junior?" He blinked suddenly snapping out of it to see Tulip looking at him as if he had just grown a third wing. "You been staring at me for like a full minute, it's super creepy."

He cringe slightly. "Sorry, it's just um…how's your family?" He perked suddenly coming up right to the photo. "Everything you wanted?"

Tulip seemed stricken by the question and held a tight lip. "...yeah, yeah they're great!" She said with a smile only for it to fall. "I'm having dinner with them this weekend."

He gave her a smile. "That's...swell." He slapped himself mentally for using the word. It made him sound awkward and weird. "And you like them?"

"Yeah of course I do, they're my family! I love them!" She exclaimed.

"Than…" He swallowed and moved the photo closer to him. "What's the matter?"

"Hmm? I don't know what you mean."

"Ah, it could be me and maybe my eyes are tired for staring at a computer screen for three hours straight while going over the baby deliveries but you look kinda….sad? Maybe?" He said, almost fishing for her to admit it herself. He wasn't really good at reading her emotions since they were all over the place.

Her eyes lowered at him and let out a frown, she turned away and stroked the cover of her book.

"Actually, the reason why I couldn't sleep is because I was thinking about the babies…" She admitted quietly.

"Why?"

"I don't know I was just thinking that what if...what if a baby's beaker breaks!?" She suddenly yelled out making him take a step back. "Than we will have no idea where they lived or who they're parents are and they'll end up just like me!" She took a breath holding back her tears. Junior immediately placed a wing on her shoulder and went down eye level with her.

"Hey, hey, that will never happen…"

"But it did with me! And if happened once it will happen again, and recently I began being really scared for them because I don't want them to be orphans and miss their families!"

"Tulip-" she immediately wiped her eyes, sniffling to herself, her face turn a tint of red from holding back tears. He slowly smiles. "You know, some sloppy human told me that it's not healthy to hold in your emotions…"

She looked up at him in a slight annoyance but as soon as her lip quivered, she cried right onto his shoulder. He patted her back gently when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Sorry." She whimpered. "I just get so worried about them and it might be because I'm a girl or something…even though that's totally sexist."

"No, no I totally get it." Junior replied. He pushed her away gently and watched her dry her tears again. "I think that is something to seriously talk about on Monday."

She sniffed. "Really?"

Junior rubbed the bottom of his beak in thought. "I think the beakers shouldn't be the only source that tells us where the babies live, we might need to create a backup, but I have no idea how."

Tulips eyes lite up and grabbed her book, immediately flipping to her last entry. "That is exactly what I was working on! A working backup!"

He blinked rapidly when she began telling him her whole idea as she pointed to a drawing of what appeared to be a usb drive shaped like a stork. "I was think of creating a single working drive that automatically connects to our system, I think I can put it into the baby making machine and once the babies are made, we take it out and put it immediately in the computer and bam!" She slammed the book shut. "A worse case scenario kicked out the door!"

Junior grabbed the boom slowly out of her hands. "That's actually a really good idea…I think this might work!"

Tulip clapped her hands. "Oh you think so! I am

so excited, I'll work on it right now!" She zipped passed him nearly knocking him off his feet. He put up a finger as he saw her know everything off her table to begin a brand new blue print.

"Uh right now? Right now? It's like...almost one in the morning?"

"Uh huh!" She began drawing on top of the blueprint while also scribbling down notes and calculations. He stared at her in disbelief and shrugged.

"Okay than, night!" He began heading to the stairs befor Tulip called out to him.

"Wait! I might need some help!" He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned back, he really did not want to spend all night on a pro-his face fell when he saw Tulip clutching her hands together, her eyes wide and glossy as her lower lip quivered. His face fell and he let out a long sigh.

"Okay I'll help you, but only for five minutes."

Tulip smiled widely and nodded. "Yeah that's perfect!"

"Tulip. Just five minutes and then I'm going to my perch, right?"

"Yup. Uh huh, perfect."

"Okay." He strolled back to her and after five minutes became five hours, he found himself occupying her bed, unable to keep up with her energy.


	4. Chapter 4

She noticed how Junior always seemed to land on his feet. He always looked cool and collected. The way he leaped off the building to deliver babies and dive in amazing speed, made Tulip's mouth open in sheer awe. She wished to fly like him. She would never admit it to anyone but the real reason she built her jet pack is to fly, just like Junior.

She nimbly connected the two wires together, watching as the electricity sparked before she glued the two live fuses. She removed her goggles and wiped the sweat off her brow as she looked at her jet pack. The two cylinders made out of oxygen tanks were fused together as she melted the metal together with her blowtorch. She adjusted the straps to the vest that was attached to her pack and made sure her back up wings was folded neatly in her emergency bag. She admired her work and grabbed a dirty rag, making it shine. She was certain that this time, she was going to fly.

He brushed her frizzy red hair back and felt an unusual warm breeze hit her ear.

"What are you working on?"

"Gah!" She yelled out In surprised and scrambled across her desk and covered her precious with a sheet before turning around to the person, or bird that sneaked up on her.

She blinked when she saw no one but looked down to see the dull expression on Pigeon Toady's face.

"What's up brah? Didn't mean to scare ya." He said nasally titling his head to the side. Her face fell and crossed her arms at him.

"Hey pigeon Toady, what brings you to my workshop?"

Pigeon Toady blinked slowly, taking a moment to process her question before replying. "Oh yeah, Boss bro needs tah see ya brah, says it real important…"

"Junior wants to see me? Why didn't he text me?" She glanced back to her work desk and brushed aside the loose pieces of paper as she tried to find her phone.

"I think he did brah…"

"No, I would have heard-there it is!" She snatched the rainbow colored case and flipped it over to the screen. She cringed when she saw the missed messages.

15 missed calls

21 unread texts

3 voice mails.

"Oh boy." She said as she stood up from her chair. "I guess I really didn't hear him, thanks for telling me Pidgeon Toady!" She said as she rushed towards her spiral metal staircase. Pigeon Toady lifted up his wing and gave her a thumbs up.

"Sure thing brah!"

"Oh and don't touch anything please!" She yelled out as she ran up the stairs. "I have very sensitive equipment."

"Sure! Yeah! Okay! No problem!"

Tulip ran across the floor of the building of stork's mountain running passed the employees delivering the babies for today to their families. She avoided making eye contact with the babies because if she does, she will be compelled to stay and play with them. She ran even fast to avoid that situation. She ran into a small office space as she kicked open the door.

"Okay!" She gasped, struggling to catch her breath. "I'm here! What do you need Junior?" She asked. Junior was surrounded with state of the art computers. Each screen had lists of babies marked with green or red.

Green meant that they had been delivered and Red meant they haven't yet. The only difference today is that all of the screens had a massive error message.

Junior appeared ready to pull of his feathers when she burst in.

"Tulip! Oh thank gosh! You gotta help me! I think I pressed the wrong button again!"

Tulip rolled her eyes. Typical. Junior was cool and collected when flying and delivering but doing simple time management and list checking on the computers is too much for him to handle. This was the fourth time she came in here to help him with computer problems.

"Junior, not this again." She complained softly as she made her way beside him. Her fingers danced along the keyboard as Junior watched her in amazement as she began fixing the problem. "Mr boss man needs to learn more about computers." She grinned. Junior gave her a mock laugh.

"Just give me a delivery any day, but a computer? Forget about it. I always seem to be a jinx when it comes to computers." He replied with a slight annoyance. Tulip smiled gently at him and pressed on the last key making the error sign disappear. Junior let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Tulip...I wish I was smart like you." He said when he began typing on the computer, continuing where he left off. Tulip straightened at him and rubbed her elbow slightly, a small blush began to form.

"Really?"

Junior chuckle as he tapped on the keys, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Yeah, I mean who builds a plane with all the scraps she finds? Not to mention all those inventions you're working on…"

Tulip snorted and smiled with embarrassment. "Oh I don't know about that, I always kinda think that you…" She brushed a piece of red hair away from her eyes, her mouth going in a thin line. Junior didn't catch her sudden silence until he slowly turned his head.

"Huh? What about me?" He asked with a smile.

"I was just thinking that you were always so co-!"

The sudden alarm of the error message appeared again making Junior turn back around and groan loudly. "Ugh! Not again, I don't get what I'm doing wrong!" He slammed his face down on the keyboard, giving up. "Maybe I should hire someone else to do this." He muttered on the dirty keys.

Tulip placed her hand on his back.

"No, come on Junior, it's simple! I'll teach you!"

He lifted his head up and slumped into his hand that was his wing. "Let's just face it, I'm dumb when it comes to computers."

"No, come on cool guy! Here I'll show you!" she quickly grabbed a chair and sat close to him. He turned his head at her.

"You think I'm cool?"

Tulip stopped typing and slowly shrugged. "Um yeah, I mean I always thought you were cool even before we became friends." She typed again and pointed to the screen. "See you keep accidentally pressing the send key which makes the computer freeze up."

Junior nodded absentmindedly. "Why'd you think I was cool? And I'm not asking that to fuel my ego, I'm just curious." He said quickly.

Tulip ran her fingers up to her pony tail again. "Because of how you flew, I mean you fly better than any other stork or bird here! It made me want to fly just like you...that's why I built my jetpack." She began typing on the keys more rapidly. "And I never seen you brag about it! And I seen pigeon Toady brag about using two squares of toilet paper an entire day!"

Junior nodded. "That day was the worst."

"And, I thought you are cool in that way too." She pressed on a key and made the error signs disappear. "There, just avoid this key and if it happens just click on this and this, it's a shortcut."

Junior glance back at Tulip making her suddenly turned pink in the face. "B-but I know I'm not the only one who thinks that!"

He smiled at her. "Thanks Tulip, I think your cool too."

She scoffed and brushed the comment away. "Oh nah!"

"No, I'm serious." He said turning towards her. "When I finally got to know you, you are the kindest person ever, you're intelligent and when...we were taking care of Diamond Destiny, I thought you were really sweet."

Tulip slowly let out a large smile and snickered softly. "Wow, I'm so embarrassed right now, um thank you Junior."

Junior smiled slightly at her. "Sure, and thanks for helping me out."

Tulip got up, ready to head back to work on her project. "No problem. Always happy to help!" She headed to the door with a spring to her step. Overwhelming happy to have heard those words out of Junior's mouth. She would be smiling all day.

"Oh uh Tulip?" She turned thinking that he needed more help with the computers. "Do you want to...hang out after work today? There's this cool sushi restaurant that opened up on shore, they have tuna!" he said excitedly, she smirked since Tuna was his favorite fish.

"Oh my gosh, no way! I would love to!" She gasped loudly as she had an idea. "We could fly there! I did some stuff with my jetpack!"

Junior's face fell in concern. "And are you sure it's...controllable?"

"Pssh! Yeah of course, I made it super easy to control." She said slyly, smirking to herself. Suddenly they both flinched when they heard a scream and a sudden crash. They both ran out to the floor, worried that someone might have gotten hurt or worse, have gotten one of the babies hurt. There eyes darted to the ceiling to see Pigeon Toady attached to Tulip's jetpack which was not stuck in between the metal bars, with smoke and fire coming out from the bottom of it. Tulip grabbed her hair and screamed up towards him.

"Pigeon Toady! What are you doing with my jetpack?!"

"If you didn't want me to touch nothin', you should have said something brah!" Pigeon Toady called out with his beak up in the air. Tulip would have yanked out her hair if Junior hadn't slowly put down her hands to her sides.

Junior swiveled his head towards his employees who were gawking at the ceiling. He pointed out to two of the storks that didn't have their feathers full of babies. "You two! Get the fire extinguisher!"

Tulip growled and stomped the floor. "Pigeon Toady! Just wait till I get my hands on you!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Sushi Fun time"

Tulip was having the time of her life. She couldn't breathe by how much she was laughing at Junior, who was also laughing along with her. They were both sitting at the sushi bar of the newly opened restaurant just below Stork Mountain called, "Open Season" where they strictly sold japanese food. Junior was lucky enough to book a reservation in the evening where it usually gets crowded but anything is possible when your CEO. The restaurant was birds only, but Tulip was always an exception.

Tulip snorted and picked up a piece of her tuna roll. "Okay! Okay! Try catching this one!"

Junior shimmied his shoulders, as if preparing himself. "Alright, I got it!" Tulip gingerly balanced the sushi in between her chopsticks. With a tongue out she threw it at Junior, it flew off the left but Junior swiftly snapped his beak right over it. Tulip clapped her hands as he slyly cleaned his teeth with a lone tooth pick.

"How can you keep catching them?" She exclaimed. "You never even missed one!"

Junior dusted his shoulder as he puffed out his chest. "Natural talent, I suppose." That made Tulip laugh even louder. She turned to her meal as her laughter died down, shoving a piece of her tuna roll in her mouth.

"Still, this place is so good!" She muffled enjoying the fresh taste of the fish. Being close to the ocean made the sushi taste so much better than being inland. There was a stork at the other side wearing a chef hat and white apron who skillfully made more sushi rolls in front of them. "Thanks for paying for my meal!" She said, giving him a playful nudge in his side.

Junior smiled slightly at her while also rubbing his sore side.

"Well, I thought we do something fun since we been so busy with the babies and all." He said.

"Yeah, it's good being by ourselves every once in awhile."

"Plus! I love tuna so much." Junior proclaimed as the chef granted him his third roll of tuna. Tulip chuckled softly as he began devouring it.

"At least slow down, wow! Do you even chew?" She snorted, laughing at him again. She enjoyed spending time with him any chance they had. They been so busy the last few months that it felt like they were coming back to being work acquaintances. She was glad that when something opened up for the both of them, he was willing to hang out with her. She slowly noticed Junior staring at her with a small smile across his face. She thought it was because her mouth was wide open like a fish as she picked up her last sushi piece. She blushed lightly and shut her mouth.

"What?"

"I like hearing you laugh." Her sushi roll dropped back down on the plate. She looked at him wide eyed as if he had grown a second head. He suddenly shifted his seat and turned away. "But not in a creeper way of course! I was just making a compliment." He said poking at his roll with his chopsticks and laughed almost awkwardly almost like a loud guffaw that made the patrons on the restaurant turn towards him as if they missed a joke. Tulip turned away, not liking so many eyes on them. She blushed and brushed against her curly hair.

"O-oh um thanks." She muttered quietly. She shoved the last piece in her mouth. Hoping the food would keep her quiet from saying something embarrassing. What is she suppose to say? 'Hey I like your laugh too! I think it's really cute!' She placed a hand over her face from the thought. She can't say that.

Junior drummed his feathers against the counter, having suddenly lost his appetite and wanting secretly to change the subject.

"Uh check please!" He said to the chef who nodded and went to the register. Junior cover his face with his hand, regretting he ever said that out loud. He was thinking how her laugh-snorts were actually pretty cute and before he knew it, he said it out loud! The two of them were not even talking and Junior was wondering what was taking the chef so long. He wanted the evening to just end and be forgotten. He never realize it would get worst when Pidgeon Toady flew up right between them and perched himself on the countertops.

"What up, my two favorite people!" He said loudly as he looked over at their plates. "Oh ya having some sushi? That's cool, that's cool. Yeah I heard this place was on fire so I had to come! How is it?"

Tulip crossed her arms. "It-it's good! Yeah um the tuna roll is good…"

"Oh yeah really good." Junior replied quickly. Pigeon Toady swiveled his head to the both of them and started to gesture with his feathers.

"Whoa! Did I interrupt somethin'? What's with the awkwardness?"

Tulip scoffed. "Awkwardness? Nah! Pssh! Pigeon Toady nothing is wrong." She cleared her throat and brushed her hair back again.

"Y-yeah!" Junior began. "Nothing is wrong!"

Pidgeon Toady blinked slowly and looked ahead. "Oh! Okay cool brah! Sorry thought I walked into some "romantic-tension" or something but you guys are friends!" Junior and Tulip immediately turned red. "So there's no problem! Hey waiter! Can I get some service?"

The chef suddenly came around the corner and Junior practically jumped over the counter to grab the check. "Okay! Here's my card! And add yourself a fifteen percent discount, okay? Okay." He jumped out of his seat and walked away to meet the chef to the register. Tulip immediately walked behind him and the two ran out of the restaurant. They stood at the base at the mountain, standing away from each other an arm's length away.

"So! Um!" Junior began with a cringe in his voice. "Good night! See you Monday!"

Tulip strapped on her jet pack and nodded feverishly. "Yup! Night! See you Monday! And thanks for liking my laugh!" She pressed down on the button and shot straight up into the air. When Monday came along, they pretended nothing ever happened but Tulip and Junior would never stop remembering it.


	6. Chapter 6

It was the holiday season at Stork Mountain, which meant more baby deliveries than usual. On some days, storks were taking six babies at a time to their parents. Over the months, Junior, being CEO built another warehouse beside Stork Mountain. Instead of cold metal and towers of boxes. The warehouse had separate baby rooms made, hundreds of rooms, occupied by three to six babies at a time, with three storks working around the clock to take care of their needs, including Junior and Tulip.

"Okay little guy." Junior chuckled as he picked up a blonde headed baby. He sat down on a rocking chair, resting his head back as he takes a warm bottle and press the nipple into the baby's hungry mouth. He always found it relaxing being in a baby's room, which is ironic since it should be the less relaxing place to be but with all the hectic holiday letters, it was nice to get the chance to sit down. With the baby's eyes slowly closing, Junior took a look around the room, seeing the nice blue color on the walls, with white painted storks decorated throughout the room. Blocks and dolls were scattered on the floor making Junior decide to pick them up once he is done feeding the baby. He heard the door of the room click, and immediately sees a tuff of bouncy red hair come in.

Tulip's smiling face come into view and she grins when she sees him. She gently tiptoes in and quietly close the door.

"Thought I'll find you here." She said softly, taking a seat on another rocking chair, in front of him.

"Yeah well, I need a break from all the letters, sorting out which are kids and which are the real parents is actually getting out of hand." Junior said, rubbing his tired eyes.

Tulip leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees. "When was the last time you had a good night's rest?"

"Hmm, you mean this week?" He chuckled, making Tulip cross her arms at him. Junior took the empty bottle out and placed the sleepy baby over his shoulder, patting his back gently.

"You really need to sleep." She said. "You're already growing some grey stubble there." She pointed out making him scratch under his chin. "It's a good thing you're coming with me to visit my family right?" She smiled excitedly. "You can sleep when you spend the night!"

Junior winced as he put the sleeping baby back into his crib. "Oh right, the family...um Tulip?" He tapped on the crib nervously. She lifted her head up and blinked.

"What? You-" she scoffed. "You are coming right? I mean we have been planning this since the beginning of December."

"I know, I know, but we are so backed up with letters to sort through and babies to deliver…"

"We were going to spend a real family dinner together, and have secret Santa, and open presents!"

Junior turned to her. "Tulip-I don't think I can leave the babies during the holidays."

"What? I know this might sound bad but Christmas is about not worrying about the deliveries and spending time with family!"

"Tulip, come on don't get upset."

"Upset? No I'm not upset! I'm just wondering why you can't take a couple of days off to visit my family, who loves you! You know mom and dad are excited to see you again."

"Tulip, I- I'm not saying no, just think of it as a maybe…"

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth went into a thin line. "No it's fine, if you didn't want to go than you should have told me right at the beginning!" She stomped away, opening the door. Junior quickly grabbed her shoulder.

"Tulip! Don't get mad!"

She shook her head and made a swift motion with her hands. "I'm not mad! Look you're busy I get

It, but I took the weekend off, so…." she bite her lip before speaking again. "Bye!" And she shut the door, but not hard enough to wake the baby.

Junior's shoulders slumped. He couldn't believe it. She was making him the bad guy! He is just doing his job! As CEO he has to be responsible, sometimes that means giving up on personal days. He sighed and collapsed on the chair, feeling his body violently slink back and forth. She was right about one thing, he hasn't slept in a while, about three days. He closed his eyes, breathing out, he slips into his dreams.

He woke up about an hour later because that was when the baby woke up, hearing the baby babble and giggle made him open his eyes. His eyes shifted to his lap as he felt a new weight. On his legs was a small box, wrapped in green and dressed in a red striped bow, attached to it held a note which he took nimbly in his fingers.

To my bestest friend.

He placed the note down as he felt a slight tug at his chest. He carefully opened the box, as if he thought it was made out of thin glass. Inside was a friendship bracelet. It was made out of string and colorful beads that were a dark green, white and blue. A small metal heart was attached to the bracelet that read, Junior. He felt himself smile at the handmade gift and immediately smacked himself in the head.

"Ugh! Why am I so stupid?" He asked to the baby, only to get a babble as a response. He picked up the infant and bounced him in his arms. "But I can't just leave! I need to at least let someone cover for me…someone who knows babies." His fingers snapped as he rushed out the door towards the baby machine.

Tulip sighed and pouted throughout dinner, poking her peas with a fork and moving them side to side watching them roll around. Her family exchanged glances making her mother put a hand over her daughter's shoulder.

"Oh Honey, I know how much you wanted Junior to come with you…"

Tulip sat up. "Sorry Mom, I just wanted him to spend time with you guys too. It would have been his first time spending time with family…" she slouched forward. "And with me."

"Maybe opening presents with make you feel better Sweetheart!" Her father said with a large smile. "Your brothers and sisters each wrapped one for you, that's eighteen presents!"

Tulip let out a small smile when her sibling all nodded their heads at once. "That's so nice...thanks guys." She lower her head again and sighed, pulling out a small gift from her lap. "I just wish I left this for Junior back at Stork Mountain." She left the present with her parents because she thought Junior would be coming with her but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen, she would have to give it to him after the weekend is over. She still felt horrible for losing her cool with him, she shouldn't expect him come with her all the time since he's boss, but they planned on going together and she really thought he would have time. She sighed softly. Babies have to be delivered and delivering them on a special day on Christmas, she couldn't be mad at Junior for doing that. Her head peaked when she heard the doorbell.

"Oh Visitors?" Her mother said as she got up but her little sister, Emily, who had turned 6 ran towards the front door.

"I got it! I got it!"

Tulip turned back to her half eaten plate and poked her food again.

"Hey Tulip!" Her sister cried out.

"Yeah?" She called back.

"Your boyfriend is at the door!"

"Boyfriend?" She turned around with a brow raise. "I don't have one-!"

"Yeah, and I'm not her boyfriend!" Gritted the visitor at the door in a harsh whisper. Tulip got up with a large smile and ran to the door.

"Junior!" She called out, he gave her a little wave before being attacked with a hard hug as she wrapped her arms around him. Junior had to balance himself from falling straight to the ground. Tulip let go as she grasped her hands together. "W-what happened with the babies and the deliveries?"

"I ask Jasper to cover for me, he said he was happy to do it!" Junior smiled as he shrugged. He bought out a small gift wrapped in white towards Tulip. Her eyes widen slightly as she takes it into her hands. "I know it's not Christmas yet...but I want you to open it."

Tulip smiled and giggled slightly when she ripped the gift open to find a small brown box with a label. " ? We still have these?"

"Sorry! It was the perfect size and it was just laying around so…" He motioned her to pull the lid and she opened it.

"Oh wow!" She gasped, taking out a small charm bracelet. It was red and brown with charms of storks and babies with also a heart shape charm that said "Best Friend". Her eyes gloss over as she put it on. "Thank you...I love it."

"I'm glad you do." He replied gently. "And now we can match! See?" He said as he put up his wrist showing his own friendship bracelet.

"Oh! No way! You made one for yourself?"

"What? No, I got this from you, see?" He pulled out the handwritten note. "It made me realize how important it is to be with the ones you lov-!"

"That's not my handwriting."

"Excuse me, what?"

"And my present for you is inside the house, it looks like this handwriting looks like...Pidgeon Toady's."

Junior whirled at the bracelet in disgust and groaned, covering his face in shame as Tulip laughed loudly at him. "Now you have to wear it!"

"Ugh! I thought this was really from you!"

Tulip waved a hand at him and scoffed. "Oh nah, I got you a scarf since you get cold when out on deliveries."

Junior's face fell. "Did you really just told me what you got me?"

"Yeah." She laughed and grabbed his wing. "Now come on and have dinner, we still have plenty more fish to eat!" She said pulling him inside.

.


End file.
